ALBANY 




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P H I L A D E 1j P H I A : 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1888. 



ALBANY, 



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philadelthia: 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1888. 



Copyright, 1888, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 



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ALBANY. 



Albany, a city of the United States, capital of the 
state of New York, and seat of justice of Albany 
county, stands on the west bank of Hudson River, 142 
miles N. of the city of New York, 42° 40' N. lat., 73° 
46' W. long. The river is an important channel of 
commerce, w'hich is further facilitated by the Erie and 
Champlain canals. Six important railway lines centre 
in this city. The older streets are irregularly laid out; 
the principal thoroughfares are provided with horse- 
railways. The city has a copious water-supply, and 
excellent drainage and sewerage systems, and is lighted 
by electricity and gas furnished by private companies. 
Albany has a fine city-hall, a high-school, one large and 
several small public parks, a theatre, an opera-house and 
a music-hall, a celebrated county-prison; Roman Catholic 
and Episcopalian cathedrals, and many other handsome 
churches; several ^academies' and private schools, a noted 
state normal school, a law school, a medical college; 
an astronomical observatory, various hospitals and infirm- 
aries, a large United States government building, and 
a very costly and splendid state capitol, considered the 
finest building of its class in the whole republic. Three 



4 ALBANY. 

bridges and several ferries cross the river to the suburban 
towns of East Albany, Greenbush, and Bath. Albany 
has a large trade in timber, grain, and cattle. Leading 
articles of manufacture are farming implements, boots 
and shoes, bricks, wagons, clothing, flour, stoves, castings 
and hollow-ware, furniture, ales and beer, malt, tobacco, 
cigars, musical instruments, and stationers' goods. The 
situation of Albany at the connection of so many im- 
portant railways and of two great canals with tide-water, 
makes it a great place for the handling or transfer of the 
bulky staples of interior production. A specialty in the 
trade of the city is the handling of barley. It is one of 
the largest seats of the manufacture of cast-iron stoves 
and heating apparatus ; and its ales and beer have long 
had a great celebrity. The hilly and irregular site of 
the town greatly facilitates drainage. The winter climate 
of Albany is severe for its latitude. The extensive 
cattle-markets of this city are situated at West Albany, 
where there are large railway shops. Near the site of 
Albany the Dutch founded a block-house and fur-trading 
station in 1614. The Dutch villages of Beverwyck or 
Fort Orange (1618) and Willemstedt (1646) were the 
germs of the present city. The Dutch colony was ceded 
to Great Britain in 1664, and the town took its present 
name in honour of the Duke of York and Albany, after- 
wards James II. of England, who received a grant of 
the colony. In 1686 a city charter was granted to 
Albany, which is thus the oldest chartered city in the 
United States. In 1764 the first general congress of the 
English colonies assembled here. In 1807 Albany be- 
came the permanent capital of the state. For a long 
period the city had many of the quaint characteristics of 



ALBANY. 5 

a Dutch town. The Dutch language was the one mainly 
spoken throughout the 18th century, and the original 
architecture was entirely that of the Low Countries. 
At present very few relics of the colonial period remain, 
but many of the prominent citizens are of Dutch descent. 
Pop. (1800) 5349; (1830) 24,209; (1860) 62,367; 
(1880) 90,758, of whom about one quarter were of 
foreign birth. 



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